Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – Step and repeat
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-26
2004-08-24
Fuller, Rodney (Department: 2851)
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
Step and repeat
C355S072000, C355S075000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06781669
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for transporting a substrate plate, positioning a substrate plate on a given plane, holding a substrate plate on a holding surface, and exposure processing a substrate plate, and device manufacturing method and device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, manufacturing of devices (electronic devices) such as semiconductor elements (integrated circuits and the like) or liquid crystal display panels using photolithographic processes has shown an increasing trend toward the use of in-line photolithographic systems comprised by serially-connected processing apparatuses, such as exposure processing and other substrate processing apparatuses, for example, coaters to apply photosensitive coating such as photo-resist on the substrate plate or developers to develop the substrate plate coated with a photosensitive coating.
In this type of photolithographic systems, the main body of an exposure apparatus, a substrate transport apparatus and substrate handling ports are typically placed inside a storage chamber of the exposure apparatus, while, the main body of a coater/developer and a substrate transport apparatus and others are placed inside a chamber of the coater/developer that provides both functions of applying a photo-sensitive material and developing the exposed substrate. A substrate plate, after receiving certain processing inside the coater/developer is transported by the substrate transport apparatus, by way of the substrate handling port connecting both chambers, for processing in the exposure apparatus. In the meantime, an exposed substrate plate is transported back to the coater/developer again in a reverse order to receive additional processing, or transported out of the exposure apparatus to inspection steps and others.
FIG. 18
shows a conventional exposure apparatus. In this exposure apparatus, the substrate plate P is transported by the transport apparatus
300
to the substrate holding apparatus (referred to as substrate holder below)
321
of the exposure apparatus main body
320
. The transport apparatus
300
is provided with a robotic arm
301
for holding a substrate plate P; a guide section
302
for freely movably supporting the robotic arm
301
; a loader
303
for loading the substrate plate
2
into the exposure apparatus main body
320
; and a loader guide section
304
for freely movably supporting the loader
303
. The robotic arm
301
and the loader
303
have a vacuum suction cavity for holding the substrate P, and are installed so that they may be moved along the respective guide sections by the action of a rotation motor and a ball screw linked to the rotation motor.
The robotic arm
301
receiving the substrate P through the port PT
1
transports the substrate P to a position PS
1
. At the position PS
1
, there is provided a first pre-alignment mechanism
305
serving as the first positioning apparatus. The first pre-alignment mechanism
305
is provided with a freely rotatably supported turntable, for example, and a position detection mechanism for detecting the position of the substrate P, and is constructed so as to adjust the position in the rotation direction of the substrate P at the position PS
1
. After the position of the substrate P is adjusted in the rotation direction, the substrate P is transported by the loader
303
along the loader guide
304
to position PS
2
. In position PS
2
, the substrate P is adjusted in the horizontal direction (x-y direction) by the second pre-alignment mechanism
306
serving as the second positioning apparatus, after which, it is held in the substrate holder
321
of the exposure apparatus main body
320
. The second pre-alignment mechanism
306
is comprised by a mechanism having a pin that can be moved to abut the substrate P, and is provided as a part of the transport apparatus such as the loader
303
, for example. The substrate holder
321
holding the substrate P moves to place the substrate P in the path of illumination light of the exposure apparatus main body
320
. Then, illumination light for exposure processing is emitted in the exposure apparatus main body
320
to imprint a circuit pattern fabricated on the mask onto the substrate P. Here, substrate positioning operations using the first and second pre-alignment mechanisms are performed to increase the precision of optical alignment during the actual exposure operation.
The mechanism based on moving the robotic arm
301
by a rotation motor and ball screw arrangement, as described above, tends to increase the size of the overall transport apparatus
300
, and therefore, it is necessary to reserve a large installation space. Also, because the system is designed to transfer a substrate P between the robotic arms using vacuum-chucking, the motion is time-consuming and results in lowering the efficiency of manufacturing in some cases. Furthermore, when the transport speed is increased in the transport mechanism based on a rotation motor and ball screw arrangement, there is a danger of generating vibrations and stable transport is difficult to achieve sometimes.
Also, as in the conventional exposure apparatus described above, when it is desired to hold the substrate plate in the substrate holding apparatus, if positioning (pre-alignment) is performed using mechanical motions, vibration from the positioning action is transmitted to the exposure apparatus main body, resulting in a loss of precision in positioning the substrate plate. To improve the productivity of the exposure apparatus, it is often practiced that a plurality of substrate holding apparatuses are prepared so that while one substrate plate on the plate holder is being exposed, the next substrate plate is placed on another plate holder. Therefore, if vibrations are generated by pre-aligning motions, a serious concern is raised that the vibrations are transmitted to mechanical parts to affect the precision of exposure.
Further, as in the conventional positioning apparatus described above, when the substrate plate is positioned mechanically, other problems can also arise such as the necessity for allocating equipment space and devising a complex mechanism. Also, in the conventional exposure apparatuses, after positioning (pre-aligning) the substrate plate mechanically using the pre-alignment mechanism (positioning device), substrate holding is performed by the substrate holding apparatus. For this reason, time is consumed in carrying out mechanical positioning operation itself.
The present invention is provided in view of the background information described above, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for transporting the substrate plate efficiently while providing a more compact transport apparatus, and to provide a method and an apparatus for exposure to enable high production efficiency.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for positioning the substrate plate to enable to reduce the number of mechanical movements required for positioning so as to control the generation of vibration as well as to make the apparatus more compact and to enable to perform the tasks in shorter time, and a method and an apparatus for holding the substrate plate, and a method and an apparatus for exposing the substrate plate using the apparatuses demonstrated.
The third object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for exposure processing to enable to produce high precision devices and to improve exposure precision of patterns for actual device, and a method for fabricating high performance devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To resolve the topics discussed above, the present invention provides the following structures illustrated in FIGS.
1
~
17
.
The present method relates to transporting a substrate plate (P) along a transport plane (
3
) by inducing electric charges in the substrate plate by impressing a voltage on each of a plurality of electrodes (
4
) arranged a
Fuller Rodney
Nikon Corporation
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